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For our project we wanted to display how involved some gamers are in their chosen virtual world and how they almost become their avatar. We focused on Hunter, the gamer, as well as the video game footage, to show the connected between gamer and avatar. Some people love video games because they can “become” their avatar, and are able to do things within the game world that they can’t do in real life. In our video we can see Hunter’s intent on killing people and stealing cars, his eyes glued to the television, his hands acting as the limbs of his avatar. Doing these actions in the game world holds no consequences, and some people become entirely engrossed in having this kind of “second life” in a virtual reality of a video game. Gamers can get away in the world of video games.

We also wanted to display a second statement about the art of machinima. We made deliberate choices about which shots to create while playing the game, controlling all camera angles and then editing the pieces together to our liking in the final product.

Toren and I made an example of a remix video to show how documentary films strongly rely on the use of pre-existing footage, to tell a story. In addition to this type of remix, we told the story of how YouTube allows new stars to be born, by using footage strictly from YouTube.

The first story is of Justin Bieber, one of the newest singing crazes, topping the charts and number of YouTube views. He got his big break when Usher and Justin Timberlake found his videos on Youtube. The videos he originally posted were of his performances in singing competitions so that friends and family members could watch them.

The second story is of Tay Zonday, singer/songwriter of “Chocolate Rain.” His story is an example of how not only is talent found on YouTube, but people seem to be attracted to whatever is WEIRDEST, which gives birth to a very unusual “star.” Other YouTube users made Tay and “Chocolate Rain” famous by creating their own renditions of the song. Check it all out in our remix documentary.